Champions Square will open for New Orleans Saints' first exhibition game at Superdome

For years, New Orleanians have longed for a place to congregate and party before New Orleans Saints games and other sporting events at the Superdome.

Chris Granger/The Times-PicayuneChampions Square presented by Verizon, New Orleans' new tailgating headquarters that will feature food, retail and entertainment before events, is taking shape and will be ready for Saturday's Saints preseason opener.

That wait has ended.

The state and the Saints have partnered to build a sports and entertainment square outside of the iconic stadium on Poydras Street.

Champions Square presented by Verizon, a 60,000-square-foot (about the same size of Jackson Square) patch of land where the New Orleans Centre used to be, is set to open in time for Saturday night's exhibition home opener against the Houston Texans. The square can comfortably fit more than 8,000 revelers. It is free and accessible even if you don't have tickets to the Saints game.

"This is going to be a festive area much like you see across the country, like in L.A. and baseball stadiums across the country," Superdome Commission Chairman Ron Forman said. "This just adds another place for fans to congregate before and after the game.

"Our hopes and dreams is that this is just the first phase. But as we lead up to the 2013 Super Bowl, we'll have a major sports district that will be open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day that will be another major attraction for economic development."

But for now, Saints fans will get a square that will feature live entertainment, street vendors and some of New Orleans' favorite eateries.

Perhaps the crown jewel of Champions Square is its wall of champions, where 30-foot photos of past championship teams and individual champions from the city or the Superdome will be on display.

Among those featured will be former Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson, a recent inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees, Muhammad Ali, who won a 1978 heavyweight championship fight at the Dome, and Michael Jordan, who hit the shot to give North Carolina the 1982 NCAA championship. (The photos may not be in place in time for Saturday's game against the Texans, though.)

"The idea was to show people and trophies that are champions in the Superdome," said Doug Thornton, regional vice president for SMG.

The $13.5 million construction project began in January with the demolition of a patch of the dormant New Orleans Centre, which had been closed since Hurricane Katrina wrecked the city in August 2005.

The project is being financed by $10.5 million in inducement payments the Saints were scheduled to receive under their previous lease agreement but instead allowed the state to use for the construction. The LSED is putting up the balance, which is expected to be recovered through revenue generated by the square.

While crews have been working feverishly to prepare the square for Saturday's game, personnel from the Saints, state and SMG, which will manage the square on behalf of the state, have worked to put the finishing touches on details and finalized vendors and sponsors.

A party zone

Verizon, which is also the official wireless company of the Saints and NFL, has a deal in place to be the title sponsor of the square until 2012. But an executive with the company said it wants it to be a long-term partnership.

"This is going to be fantastic," Verizon regional president Kay Henze said. "The whole area is going to be well celebrated by the citizens of New Orleans. It is going to be a great place for families to come before and after games. I'm really excited about how it is going to continue to become a gathering place for New Orleans."

While tinkering with ideas to start a sports and entertainment district, Saints, SMG and state officials looked into models used by other professional sports franchises and cities.

The one that caught their attentions was L.A. Live, a sprawling entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the Staples Center (home of the Los Angeles Lakers) that features apartments, ballrooms, bars, concert theaters, restaurants, movie theaters and a 54-story hotel and condominium tower.

While Champions Square won't be nearly as lavish as the $2.5 billion district in Los Angeles, locals believe that New Orleans has enough infrastructure in place to pull off a major makeover around the Dome.

"When we started looking at this years ago that is always the model that I kind of looked at, " Thornton said.

Champions Square will have its own flavor, however.

One of the first things the local officials decided to do was tear out the bridge that led from the New Orleans Centre to the Dome's Gate C entrance.

Superdome officials estimate 65 percent of fans enter games through Gate C, so they wanted to make it a grand entrance. A staircase has been put in place leading up from the Champions Square to Gate C.

"We've never really had a grand entrance into the Superdome, " Thornton said. "And for many, many years I struggled with that. This gives us that grand entrance. Eventually we would hope to have some iconic feature up here at the top that will welcome you into the stadium."

Built with a high-end sound system, the square also will include a 36-foot by 32-foot stage, an 18-by-32 LED video board, searchlights and 10 10-by-10 performance modules.

It also will feature a list of local food venders: Red Fish Grill, Acme Oyster House, Drago's, Bourbon House Seafood, Palace Cafe, Wow Cafe and Wingery, The Praline Connection, Outback Steakhouse and Galatoire's.

"The key is having a real diverse group so some of it seems high end and some of it seems very mainstream," Saints owner/executive Rita Benson LeBlanc said.

To spruce up the area, LaSalle Street will be closed off and outfitted with trees, concessions, kiosks and Saints memorabilia.

There is also Club XLIV, a private lounge inside the old Macy's building that is 6,500 square feet.

For now, officials said the square will be open for Saints games with the opportunity to open for other events such as beach volleyball, concerts and conventions. Their plan, however, is for the square to be the start of an entertainment district and open throughout the year.

Future enhancements

Following the upcoming football season, workers will begin Phase II, which entails paving the square and bricking the street (provided the city approves the permanent closure of the one-block stretch of LaSalle) plus adding landscaping. The temporary stairs leading to the Dome will be replaced this offseason with a permanent set as well but that project technically falls under the next phase of the Dome renovation.

The plan also calls for a permanent entryway on the Poydras entrance to LaSalle.

Aside from the tight timetable of the project, Saints executive vice president Dennis Lauscha said they wanted to do the project in phases because it allowed officials to gain a pulse for what fans want.

"This property sat dormant for a very long time, " Lauscha said. "A lot of people looked at it. And a lot of people couldn't figure out how to make it work. So we are taking a shot, trying to make this thing work. So I think it is going to work out to our advantage having it phased in."

If the Saints and state are able to pull off the first two phases, there is also a plan for further development along the patch of land adjacent the Dome.

A Phase III, which would be completed sometime after 2013, would build out a facade and add a permanent food court.

"Hopefully we will be able to use these first two seasons as a proof of concept to build a marketplace that this is a sustainable place to do business," Thornton said.

In the meantime, fans will get to enjoy a structured place to congregate and party before kickoff. A first for New Orleans.

"What we are trying to do here is start the game day experience way before kickoff," Lauscha said. "This is not just for the Saints. This is for all the folks that use the Superdome.

"If we are going to be competitive with this stadium for the next 20 years we have to do the things to attract events here. And this puts us in another league."